Forgiving the Barbie Incident
by SaffronAngel
Summary: Cole and Willow bond over her memories of her life in Sunnydale. New chappy up!!!!!!!!!!
1. Traveling

DISCLAIMER: The characters you recognize obviously don't belong to me. They belong to the gods named Joss Whedon and Aaron Spelling. I can dream though. Right?  
  
SPOILERS: Everything that has previously happened on both Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  
  
A/N: This story is just how I see the new season of Charmed and Buffy (mixed with Angel) starting out. Fair warning to everyone who wants to see those two crazy kids Buffy and Spike get things worked out and be together, NOT IN MY STORY!!!!!!!!!! I am now and always have been a big Buffy/Angel shipper.  
  
  
The petite redhead sat silently in the backseat as her friends drove the highway between Sunnydale and San Francisco. She wasn't so sure that this was such a good idea but everyone else preferred it to the other option which would have sent her to England. Besides, maybe these young women could explain Dawn's new healing ability.  
  
  
The blonde young woman in the front seat was puzzled. Who was she? No one knew anymore and with the onset of her new abilities, her friends were even asking WHAT was she?  
  
The dark-haired man in the driver's seat hated this. His friend felt bad enough after putting Giles in the hospital. Not to mention the fact that she had beaten up both Buffy and Anya while insulting poor Dawn. Thankfully, Dawn had forgiven Willow. Had even taken to coming to the apartment to try to draw her out of her shell. Apparently, Dawn and Willow had carried on extensive conversations in their heads which unnerved the loyal Xander to no end.  
  
It had scared him one day when he had left Dawn and Willow alone in the apartment because he needed something for dinner. Willow had apparently cut herself and Dawn had healed her.   
  
Now he was taking two of his friends to meet three strangers in San Francisco. He wasn't sure this was the right thing to do but since Willow needed someone's help and these three were apparently very powerful Wiccas, not to mention the fact that maybe they could explain where Dawn's healing ability came from.  
  
  
The three young people were so lost in their own thoughts that not one of them noticed the slender man whose hair was so blond as to be almost white hitchhiking toward Sunnydale.  
  
  
  
A/N 2: Sorry so short. Want to see what people think before I write more. Please r&r!!!!!!!!! 


	2. Coming Home

DISCLAIMER: The characters you recognize obviously don't belong to me. They belong to the gods named Joss Whedon and Aaron Spelling. I can dream though. Right?  
  
SPOILERS: Everything that has previously happened on both Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  
  
A/N: This story is just how I see the new season of Charmed and Buffy (mixed with Angel) starting out. Fair warning to everyone who wants to see those two crazy kids Buffy and Spike get things worked out and be together, NOT IN MY STORY!!!!!!!!!! I am now and always have been a big Buffy/Angel shipper.  
  
  
Fred and Gunn were walking the streets of L.A. again, hoping still that Angel was somewhere in the city and that they would find him. They had seen Connor from a distance the other night but couldn't get close enough to him to ask him about his father or Cordelia.  
  
Both had been missing for about three months. Fred was worried that something had happened to Angel to make him disappear for this long. She was worried that maybe he had left town. The only place they could think of to call was Sunnydale. No one there had seen him in a couple of years.  
  
  
Every night when they returned to the Hyperion, Fred would sit in the office and cry because they hadn't found either Cordy or Angel. Every night when they got back, Gunn would go down to the workout room and knock around the punching bag for a couple of hours before going upstairs and laying down next to Fred. He would wrap his arms around her and they would fall asleep together, the last two members of Angel Investigations.  
  
  
They just didn't know what else to do. They were continuing the business in the best way they knew how. They didn't want Angel to come back from whereever he was to find that they had given up. They did believe that he would come back someday and they were determined to show him that they kept things going in his absence.  
  
"Fred. Gunn." They heard the whisper and sat straight up in bed.  
  
"Cordy!" Fred squealed when she saw the Seer at the door to their room. But Cordy was glowing. "Where have you been and why are you glowing?"  
  
"Fred, Gunn, listen closely. I don't have a lot of time. I know where Angel is and you have to rescue him. He's in a box at the bottom of the ocean. Connor left him there. Don't talk now," she warned when she saw Fred taking a deep breath as if to start her questions. She smiled sadly. Fred's inquistive nature was one of the things she would miss about this plane of existence. "Just follow me. And follow my instructions. I'll explain everything later."  
  
Gunn and Fred both nodded and slipped out of bed, fully clothed to follow their friend to save Angel.  
  
  
Sitting on a boat the next night right after sunset, Gunn was dressed in scuba gear and was ready to dive for Angel. This is where Cordy said they would find the box that imprisoned Angel. He nodded at Fred and jumped into the water.  
  
  
'Oh God! It IS Angel!' Gunn thought when he looked into the box and saw Angel's familiar face.  
  
'Did you think I was kidding?' came Cordy's voice inside his head. 'Quickly! Attach the cable to the box and get back to the surface. He's been down here almost too long as it stands.'  
  
Gunn followed her instructions and, soon, Angel was back on dry land. They opened the box and stood back as Cordy's glowing form bent over Angel comatose body and begged him to wake up.  
  
His eyes opened but the reaction was not what they expected. He jumped out of the box and ran off quickly disappearing into the night.  
  
"What happened?" Gunn asked.  
  
"He's been in a type of hibernation for three months. He's hungry and confused right now. I have a feeling that I know where he's headed." When they both turned to look at her, she continued. "I just don't know if Buffy's ready to face him right now."  
  
  
Back in Sunnydale, Buffy wasn't dealing well with anything, let alone anyone. Shortly after Xander, Willow, and Dawn had left, Oz had come back to town wanting another chance with Willow and Buffy had to tell him what had happened. He decided to stick around. He moved into the extra room in Buffy's house.  
  
  
"Hey, Anya. I hear you could use some help fixing this place back up."  
  
"Oz!" Anya ran out from behind the register and hugged Oz tightly. "Does Willow know that you're here?"  
  
"No. I haven't had a chance to call her." Oz looked down at his shoes. "I don't know what she'll think of it. I come back right after the woman she loved died. She's probably going to have some problems with that."  
  
Oz didn't realize that right now Willow had a lot of problems. None of which had to do with him.  
  
  
They arrived in San Francisco and found the Halliwell house fairly quickly. Willow followed Xander and Dawn up to the door and didn't even look at the door until she heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Xander? Willow? It's been forever!"  
  
"Paige? Paige Matthews?"  
  
"It's Halliwell now. When my parents died, I came back here and finished school and went to college. I became a social worker." She stepped back. "Come on in. We can catch up."  
  
The three friends from Sunnydale followed Paige into the living room. Piper sat on the couch with her feet up. She looked huge. She was almost eight months pregnant with Leo's child.  
  
"Piper, these are some of my friends from Sunnydale." Piper looked at Willow curiously.  
  
"She's powerful. She holds more power than we do as the Charmed Ones." Then, she looked at Dawn. "So is she. I think we better get Leo here for this one."  
  
She had no sooner spoke her husband's name then he was right there beside her, helping her to her feet. "The Elders sent me when they realized who was knocking at your door. Then, when you called me, they knew they were right in sending me back." He held out his hand to Xander. "We know who you are and were prophesied to be. You are the one they call the Loyal. Loyal to anyone you call friend and recent savior of the world."  
  
He turned to Willow. "The Slayer's Witch friend. Your grief was very powerful but could never be more powerful than the love of a true friend. I also mourned your loss. Tara was a great power for our side. As are you."  
  
Looking at Dawn, he smiled. "And the Key. What an honor it is to finally meet you. I assume the Elders were correct and that your powers have started to truly manifest themselves."  
  
"If you mean that I can heal people, then yeah, I guess you're right." Dawn wasn't real sure about trusting these people. She was understandably a little nervous about all of this. She wasn't so sure anymore that she wanted to know who she was. She just wanted to go home to be with Buffy.  
  
"You and I will talk more later. First, to address the problems that brought all of you here."  
  
At that, Willow started to get nervous. How much did he know? Who were these "Elders" he was talking about? Were they on the same side?  
  
"Yes. We are on the same side." At Willow's look of surprise that he understood her thoughts, Leo explained. "Your face is very expressive, Willow. That's how I understood. That and the Elders told me."  
  
He took a deep breath. "I am a Whitelighter. I help innocents. At one point, my job was just to watch out for the Charmed Ones without them knowing who I was. But, something happened." He wrapped an arm around Piper's shoulders. "I fell in love. After Pru died, we were lucky to find Paige. She wasn't even aware that she was a Halliwell. We didn't even know that there was a fourth Halliwell sister. She is half-Whitelighter. She has the same abilities I do to a slightly lesser extent."  
  
"What am I?" Dawn interrupted.  
  
Leo walked over to Dawn and touched her forehead. "Not what. Who. You are very powerful, Dawn. This world is a much better place to have you in it. If your powers had manifested sooner, you could have restrained Willow at her strongest. With the right training. The Elders and the Powers That Be have sent you here to learn about yourself and what role you will play in the End Days. You will be a major force when the Final Battles come. This is what I know from the Elders. We will have to do some research to learn more."  
  
At this, Willow's head popped up and there was a smile there for the first time in a long time. "Research? I like to research."  
  
Xander just giggled. "Not a word in three months and then with the research thing." He shook his head. "My bookwormy Willow." He hugged her almost in tears. He pulled back and looked at Leo. "Less than an hour with you and she speaks again. Thank you for that."  
  
"Your loyalty to Willow has been tested to limits that no friendship should ever be tested to. Yet you have stood by her. You have defended her when few others, even no others would."  
  
"She's my friend and she has been just as loyal to me when I needed it." Xander looked into Willow's eyes. "When I was completely cruel to her under the influence of a spell that placed a hyena's spirit into my body, when I had a witch cast a spell which made her and all the women of Sunnydale love me, when I obsessed over Buffy. She never once stopped caring. So many times when she could have turned her back on me but never did."  
  
"The Powers know that. That's why they weren't surprised that you stood beside her when she did what she did."  
  
Everyone sat down and started talking.  
  
  
Sunnydale was quiet. Had been ever since Willow went all dark magicky. Buffy was really hoping for an apocalypse right now. She was bored. She spent her days helping Anya rebuild the Magic Box and the nights patrolling with Oz. The two of them had gotten really close.   
  
Of course, Oz and Anya were even closer. They had a common bond of having betrayed the people they loved the most. In fact, they had even started going out together. They went to the movies and dinner and the Bronze. Buffy just watched enviously.   
  
She found her thoughts drifting to Angel and LA. What was he doing? Who was he with? What was Cordy up to?  
  
"Would you believe that I have ascended to a higher plane of existence?" Cordy's voice seemed to be coming from behind her. Buffy turned around to see the former May Queen standing in her living room. Cordy was glowing though. The only time she had done that in high school was when she had succeeded in putting someone down in a new way.  
  
"What --- What are you doing here? Is Angel with you?"  
  
For a moment, Buffy swore that she saw a look of sadness pass across Cordy's face. "No. But he's on his way. He was sealed in a box at the bottom of the ocean for the past three months. He was in a state of hibernation but now he's awake and he's hungry. The last I saw of him, he was heading this way. I'm assuming he'll want you to feed him. After all, with your blood he doesn't need as much because it's so much more potent than normal mortal blood." She looked up for a moment as if listening to something. "Just two more things. Take care of him, Buffy. The two of you have to be together. It's foretold. Second, there is some real weirdness coming. Don't freak out on us. Lean on Angel and he will lean on you when you learn what you will learn. Take care, Buffy. Don't give up."  
  
"I won't, Cordy. Thank you. Can you stay a while and talk? I've been so lonely the past couple of months."  
  
"I wish I could. I have to go. I will check in on you from time to time." She sighed. "Tell Angel I'm sorry and I love him."  
  
"I will." With that, the Seer vanished.  
  
Just then, Buffy's front door slammed open and she heard her lover's voice for the first time in almost two years. "Buffy!!!!!" 


	3. Forgiveness All Around

"Willow, we can't just take the magic away from you. It's in every cell of your body now. All we can do is teach you certain controls. Things that will help you set your own limits. Tell you when to back off." Piper was trying very hard to remember that the young woman in front of her was, despite all that she had done and seen, very much a novice in magic. She turned to her younger sister. "We may need help from all of our ancestors for this."  
  
Suddenly, Leo, Paige and Dawn orbed into the room. "That was way cool!" exclaimed Dawn. "Where were we?"  
  
"Good question, Dawn. Where were you? You were gone for almost 4 hours!" Willow had jumped up and run over to Dawn.  
  
"No way! We were only gone about ten minutes or so!"  
  
Leo stepped in at this point. "Time moves differently there than it does here. It's hard to explain." He looked at Dawn then looked at Willow. "The Elders want to have her come up there for a few days. They want to talk to her and teach her about who and what she is as well as her destiny."  
  
"That would be about a month." Piper's helpful translation did nothing to ease the look of fear and loneliness that crossed Willow's face.  
  
Leo spoke up. "You would still have contact with her. All you would have to do is call her and she could come to you. Of course, Xander is still going to be here. We would never try to isolate you from the people you depend on, Willow. The girls will teach you how to know when you've gone too far. I will help Dawn to learn where her true strengths lie and yours as well. You see, with what has recently happened to you, you have become a truly magical creature. You aren't just a person anymore. The magic has changed you, made you a part of it."  
  
"I don't want to be a part of the magic anymore. I just want to be plain old Willow. The bookworm. Just the girl I was back . . ."  
  
"Before everything with the Slayer and the vampires and all of that." Leo nodded. "I understand. So do the Elders. But that's not who you are anymore. Everything in your life has led to this point. You have to accept it. This is you now."  
  
Willow fell to her knees, crying. "But I killed people. I hurt Giles and Anya and Buffy. I almost killed Dawn. And Xander. What I did to him was beyond everything else put together."  
  
"Wills, you know I don't blame you for all that." Xander had been standing in the doorway for a few minutes and had heard everything. He now walked over to where Willow was crying and knelt beside her. "No one does. You were grieving. You had never had to deal with that much grief before. And how could I turn my back on the crayon-breaky Willow that has always been my bestest friend?"  
  
No one else knew what to say as Xander pulled Willow into his lap and held her.  
  
  
"Angel!" Buffy breathed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the house, shutting the door behind him. He pulled her roughly into his arms and held her for a minute.  
  
She pulled back and pulled the hair from her neck, baring his mark to him and offering herself. At first, he pulled away. She laced her fingers through his hair and pulled his head to her throat. "Drink, Angel. Drink and live."  
  
She felt his game face come out and a flash of fear went through her, remembering the last time he had drank from her. He had nearly killed her that time. That was the last thought that went through her mind as his fangs pierced her skin and he began to drink.  
  
Angel felt the Slayer go limp in his arms as he drank. Her blood was so intoxicating. He knew that she was unconscious. He pulled away from her neck and her head lolled backward like a rag doll's. He picked her up and laid her on the couch.  
  
"Buffy? Buffy?" He pushed the hair away from her face. "Buffy, not again." He was almost in tears. They were still sitting like that when Oz and Anya came back from their date.  
  
"Angel? What did you do to her?" Oz asked as he stood staring at Buffy's still form on the couch.  
  
  
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A/N: I know it's been a while but here's the new chapter. Hope everyone likes it. 


	4. Forever Isn't that the point?

A/N: I know it's been a while but real life intruded and my muse decided it was a good time for a vacation. Muses don't understand that we poor humans need them all the time. Anyway, enjoy.  
  
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"Oz, I didn't drink much. I swear. She forced me to drink but I only drank a little. Not like last time." He looked down at Buffy. "Wake up, Buffy. Please wake up."  
  
Oz ran over and checked Buffy's pulse. "Her pulse is strong, Angel. I think she's just tired and she fell asleep." He put a hand on the vampire's shoulder. "She'll be fine. She hasn't slept much lately. She's been so worried about Willow and Dawn and everything else."  
  
"What's been going on here?" Angel was lost. He had been underwater for three months and before that he hadn't really tried to stay in touch with anyone.  
  
Oz, Anya and Angel sat down and explained the entire past three years. They didn't gloss over Willow's dark magic episode. They told him everything. Including where Willow, Dawn and Xander were now.  
  
"So, you and Anya have started dating." It wasn't a question. Just a statement of fact. Angel was still trying to comprehend the fact that Willow had tried to kill Buffy. She had almost killed Giles. In fact, he was still in the hospital. He had suffered many broken bones and a punctured lungs.  
  
"Yeah. We got together because both of us needed someone else to talk to."  
  
"What happens when Willow comes back?"  
  
"We'll find out when they get here." Oz shrugged. He hadn't thought about what would happen when Willow got back and found him with Anya. He wasn't even sure that Willow would want him back. After all, he had left her twice. And now she was dealing with Tara's death and the black magic and having killed someone. Nearly having killed someone she really cared about.  
  
"What about you Anya? What happens when Xander gets back?"  
  
"I don't know. I mean, he left me at the altar and then I betrayed him with Spike. I doubt he even wants to talk to me anymore. He can't possibly still love me. Not after that."  
  
"You can't say that. Even after everything that's happened between Buffy and I, I would still drop everything for her. I would give up everything to make sure that she was safe. Dawn too. She's so important to Buffy and I couldn't stand it if anything happened to her."  
  
"You would still run to her? Even after Parker and Riley? Even after she had sex with Spike?"  
  
"That last part bothers me. I won't lie about it. But yes. I would still run to her. Any and every time she needs or wants me. I will be there. I'm not leaving her again. I need her. She is my salvation and my redemption." Just then, Buffy groaned and stirred.  
  
Angel was sitting beside her on the couch when her eyes fluttered open. "Angel?"  
  
"I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here to stay. As long as you want me."  
  
"How's forever? Does that work for you?"  
  
"It sure sounds good." He smiled. It was one of those rare and precious smiles that went all the way to his eyes.  
  
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A/N: This one is really short but I wanted to get something posted on this one. It's been a while. I haven't been able to work on this one or my others because the Muses have been throwing another story line at me and forcing me to work on it. 


	5. Confrontation

"Now, Willow, take two deep breaths and just let it happen." Willow did as she was told and felt herself grow extremely light. Xander watched, holding his breath, as Willow floated off the couch. She seemed almost to glow as she rose toward the ceiling.  
  
"Wow!" he whispered, almost not believing what he was seeing.  
  
Suddenly, Willow's eyes flew open and she spun herself to a standing position in midair. "Something's coming. Not natural. Evil."  
  
Phoebe jumped out of her chair. "Cole must be here!"  
  
Willow floated down to the floor. "She's excited about a demon showing up here?"  
  
Piper pulled herself up out of the other chair. "Cole and Phoebe have been on again off again for quite a while. This is one of their on again phases."  
  
"Kind of like me and Anya." Xander's eyes went all misty as he thought about the woman he had left at the altar and how she had become a vengence demon again.   
  
"Similiar but different if the story Willow tells me is correct." Piper smiled. Willow had really opened up in the past week. She had told Piper all about what had happened in Sunnydale.   
  
"Xander, there's been something happening in Sunnydale. Buffy called me." Willow took a deep breath knowing that Xander was going to blow the news way out of porportion. He still made no secret of his hatred of Angel. Now that Angel was back in Buffy's life, Xander would probably be almost impossible to deal with again. "Angel's back and apparently Buffy's been letting him feed from her. She also said that there was an old friend of ours back in town too but wouldn't tell me who it was."  
  
"Great. Deadboy's back and making a snack of our friend."  
  
"Angel's saved your life too, Xander."  
  
"He's meant to be there right now. He has to help Buffy through some things. She needs him. There is a lot that's about to happen and only he can stand beside her because a lot of it revolves around the two of them." Leo was standing in the doorway. Piper immediately went to her husband and he wrapped her in his arms. "Just like it was meant to be that you would be here now and Dawn would be discovering who she really is." Leo smiled down at Piper and caressed her stomach with one hand.  
  
"I just don't like him. He almost cost Buffy her life once doing exactly what he's doing now."  
  
"Xander, admit it. You never really got over the fact that Buffy chose Angel over you. You've never been nice to him. Never gave him a chance."  
  
"A chance to do what? Bite me and feed from me. Willow, he's not the guy for Buffy."  
  
"She loves him. If she didn't, she wouldn't have ever let him feed from her." Willow was determined to make Xander see that Angel and Buffy belong together. And that they should offer their friends their blessing. Giles was the only one who had a right to hold a grudge. After all, it was his woman that Angelus had killed. "Xander, he never actually hurt you. Physically, I mean. He loves Buffy and she loves him. That's why she and Riley would never have worked out. Because she still loved Angel."  
  
"I'll give him a chance to prove himself to us. If I see even one sign that he's gone evil, I'll stake him personally."  
  
"And you know that normally I wouldn't stand in your way in that case. Right now, though, I think I would stand a better chance of beating him than you would."  
  
"Willow, you know that I just want to protect both you and Buffy from everything."  
  
"Buffy doesn't need protection. She's the Slayer. She's the one who can protect us." Willow really was hoping that Xander would hold to his promise. Angel deserved at least that much.  
  
"Willow, why don't you tell him what you've already sensed about Angel?" Willow dropped her head.  
  
"Xander, he can't go all evil on us again. Even if he and Buffy . . ."  
  
"Willow, don't say it. It's hard enough to accept the fact that they've done it once. I don't think I can stomach the thought that they might do it again." Xander did a double take. "What do you mean, he can't go all evil on us again?"   
  
"His soul is anchored. As long as Buffy lives, he can't lose his soul again." When Xander just stood there gaping like a fish out of water, Willow giggled. "I figured it out when we saw him that Thanksgiving. He showed up here not just because of his friend's vision, but also because of his tie to Buffy."  
  
"Xander. Willow. I want to introduce you both to Cole." Phoebe walked into the living room to see Piper in Leo's arms and a look of total shock on Xander's face.   
  
Everyone turned to look at her and Cole walked up behind her. The look that crossed Willow's face was one of pure rage. "You!" Piper felt the power welling up in the room.  
  
"Willow, no!!!!!!" Piper screamed.  
  
"He's the reason Buffy had to kill Angel the first time!!!" Willow screamed. "He was in charge of the company that was building low income housing right where Acathla was buried. It's all because of him that the statue was uncovered in the first place. If he hadn't decided to put the housing there, ---"  
  
"Then you wouldn't have had any idea just how bad Angelus could be. You would never have anchored his soul to Buffy and they wouldn't be together now because he would have killed her back then." Phoebe was standing right in front of Cole, trying to protect him.  
  
"Phoebe, move. He doesn't deserve your protection. It's because of him that Angel killed yet another member of the Romani people."  
  
Just then, Xander walked up in front of Willow and held up a yellow crayon in front of her face. Just as quickly, he snapped it. That brought Willow's attention away from Cole for a moment. That was all it took for Xander to bring Willow back to her senses.  
  
  
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A/N: Sorry it's so short but hopefully I'll have more up soon. Thanks for all that have been reviewing. Especially you queen bodaciea (sp?). 


	6. I'm Sorry

"Willow, open the door. I want to talk to you."  
  
"I almost lost it. I almost lost control again. I can't control this!" Willow was laying across the bed, sobbing because she had almost let the magic control her again.  
  
Just then, Dawn orbed into the room. "Willow." When Willow looked up at her, Dawn smiled. "The Elders sent me to you. They said you needed a friendly shoulder to cry on."  
  
Dawn sat down on the bed next to Willow and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Dawnie, I can't do this! I wanted to kill Cole. I wanted to do to him what I did to Warren."  
  
"Warren and Cole are two different people. YOU are a different person now than you were then. You wouldn't have killed him. Hurt him definitely. Badly possibly. But you wouldn't have killed him." Willow's head was laying on her shoulder. Dawn just held Willow and let her cry.  
  
Eventually, Willow fell asleep and Dawn lay her back down on the bed. She slipped out the door and went downstairs looking for Xander.  
  
  
"Xander."  
  
"How is she?"  
  
"Sleeping. She's scared. She's terrified that she might actually have killed Cole." Dawn sat down next to Xander and he wrapped an arm around the young woman. "I know she wouldn't have killed him but it's going to take a lot of convincing."  
  
"How are we going to keep her from hurting Cole?"  
  
"He can withstand a lot of pain. He is a demon after all."  
  
"How do you know?" Cole's voice came from behind them. "How did you know what --? You're the Key!"  
  
"The Elders briefed me before I came down. They let me know what was going on and how important you were to Willow's recovery."  
  
"Does she have a neon sign on her that tells every evil thing who she is? I mean I know how Glory found out about her, but . . . "  
  
"You fought Glorificus? And lived to tell the tale?" Cole just shook his head. "You'll have to tell me, someday, about how you warded her off."  
  
"We didn't. She's dead." Xander said it with pride. He was still proud that Giles had killed a god.  
  
"What?!?!?! Glory's dead? How? No, wait that's probably a really long story that we really don't have time for right now. But you have to tell me about it sometime. Right now, we have to help Willow. The girls brought me here to help train her to know when to back off."  
  
"Right now, she's just trying to get over the fact that she almost tried to kill you."  
  
"I wish she wouldn't worry about that. Even the girls have tried to kill me at times. No one's ever truly succeeded. I guess it's just my luck. Of course, the way things go around here, Willow might just be the one who could do it."  
  
"That's not funny, Cole. Willow is sitting, well, sleeping upstairs. She's been crying and she's afraid she's going to hurt someone yet again."  
  
"I'm sorry, Dawn. That's just the way I deal with fear. I really was scared of Willow in there. I could feel the power. I had to pretend though that I wasn't because that's what the girls asked me to do."  
  
The phone rang and suddenly, Paige was in the doorway. "Dawn, there's a Rupert Giles on the phone from Sunnydale. He wants to talk to you."  
  
"Thanks, Paige." Dawn picked up the phone. (Picture the next part as switching back and forth between Dawn and Giles.)  
  
"Giles, hi. How are you?"  
  
"I'm doing better. How are you?"  
  
"Great. I'm finding out all sorts of things about my own powers and what I can do with them."  
  
"Very good. Work hard. You never know when you could be of the utmost importance to the survival of not only your sister but perhaps the entire human race."  
  
"I know. Sheesh. So many words to say that I might be important."  
  
"And how is Willow?"   
  
"A setback. She almost tried to kill a demon."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's a demon that one of the girls is occasionally dating. She somehow knew that he was the one that arrranged for low-income housing to be built right where Acathla was buried. He also arranged for some of the pieces of the Judge to be brought into Sunnydale. He's the whole reason Buffy had to kill Angel in the first place."  
  
"I see." Dawn cringed. She knew that tone all too well. How many times had she heard it from him during the summer that Buffy was gone? "And someone stopped her?"  
  
"Xander. She just finished crying herself to sleep. She's worried that she'll hurt someone that she doesn't mean to." Giles said nothing for a moment. "Giles, I'm scared that she may close herself off from everyone again and I don't know if anyone will be able to get through to her this time."  
  
"Just keep working with her. And keep up on your work too. We need to know just how powerful both you and Willow are." Just then, they both heard another phone in the house pick up.  
  
"Giles?" Willow's teary voice was on the third extension.  
  
"Yes, Willow. It's me."   
  
Willow started crying again. "Giles, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I couldn't stop myself from hurting you. It was like all of pain from all those years of watching you with everyone else, feeling like I had always just been the computer girl, suddenly feeling like I wasn't an important part of the group, all came crashing down at once. I wanted to lash out because the best thing in my life had been taken away from me and I couldn't get her back."  
  
"Willow, it's alright. I will recover. And you will learn to control your power. I have faith in you. As does Buffy. And Angel." Giles took a deep breath. "So does Oz."  
  
"Oz? Oz is there?" Willow's voice had gone very tiny. She sounded so much like the old Willow. The shy, bookish girl who had always evoked a strong protective response in everyone. Giles had always looked at her as his protégé. He loved her like a daughter and had more than once called on his history as 'Ripper' to protect her and sometimes Buffy.  
  
"Yes. I thought Buffy would have told you."  
  
"She just said an old friend was there and that was it."  
  
"Well, I have to go. The nurse is looking at me with death in her eyes. Willow, I have always loved you like a daughter. I have faith in you. We all do. Be strong. Take control of the magic."  
  
"Goodbye, Giles," Willow whispered into the phone.  
  
"Bye, Giles." Dawn's tone was rather sobered. She had heard every word between the two of them and it had torn her up to hear the loss in Willow's voice. "And thank you."  
  
"Your quite welcome, Dawn. You may call me anytime you need me." With that the line went dead and Willow upstairs started crying again while Dawn quietly cried in Xander's arms.  
  
///////////////////  
  
A/N: What is Willow going to say when she gets back to Sunnydale and finds that Oz and Anya are an item? How will Xander react to Angel? Stay tuned to find out. 


	7. Chapter 7: Memories and Apologies

A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated this one but it suddenly came to me.  
  
##########  
  
Willow had once again fallen asleep upstairs in the room she shared with Dawn at the Halliwell house. Dawn had almost fallen asleep in Xander's arms before the Elders had summoned her back to their presence to continue her training. Xander and Cole sat outside talking about Willow and everything that had happened to her.  
  
"You mean, Willow tried to raise the temple that was buried in Sunnydale?"  
  
"Actually she had raised it. She tried to channel the power into it or something in order to destroy the world. She just couldn't handle the pain of feeling all the emotions in the world. If I hadn't stepped in front of her, taking uberdamage, she just might have succeeded. Then, we all would have been in trouble."  
  
Cole was suitably impressed with the young man in front of him. Even though the boy held no special powers, it was obvious that, with or without his friends, he was a force to be reckoned with.  
  
"Cole, are you --? Oh there you are. Hi, Xander." Paige had just come out of the house. "Willow's awake and wants to talk to you, Cole."  
  
Cole stood up and turned to Xander. "Here we go. I hope she doesn't turn me into a toad. I hate toads." With a smile that didn't quite cover how nervous he was, he walked back into the house.  
  
/////////////  
  
"Cole." Willow was sitting on the couch alone in the living room. She wouldn't even look at him at first.  
  
He let her steer the conversation. She needed to feel in control of something. "You wanted to see me, Willow?"  
  
"I'm sorry. I really am. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. It's always been one of my worst faults. When I get upset, I start acting without thinking and that's never good. I really need to learn to control my temper. After all, it almost got me killed more than once."  
  
Cole sat down next to her on the couch. "Why don't you tell me about some of them?"  
  
"That's a long story. It all started seven years ago when I first met Buffy. She had just moved to Sunnydale and Xander and I found out about her being the Slayer and all this other stuff which just blew our minds. We had never once thought about all those things that went bump in the night. Now we were part of fighting them. It was confusing and at times absolutely frightening. We made it through everything though. The return of Angelus. The mayor's Ascension. College. High school." A small smile came to her lips as she remembered Oz's words as they sat together after the Ascension was all over.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
They were all on the bench across from the school. Oz was just behind Willow and he had put his hands in his pockets. "Guys, take a moment to deal with this. We survived."  
  
Xander nodded. Buffy came back with, "It was a hell of a battle."  
  
Oz just quietly said, "Not the battle. High school." They all were quiet for a moment, just looking at the remains of the school. They could hear crickets chirping in the night.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
Willow shook her head and started from the beginning to tell Cole all about the past seven years and what had happened to bring her to the point where she would try to complete what the followers of Proserpexa couldn't accomplish.  
  
It was rather dark when she finished and Cole took her hand. "Willow, you know that you've gone beyond being a normal human when you don't try to make weak excuses for your behavior. You have accepted the fact that you did wrong by trying to end the world. You aren't trying to excuse your behavior. That means that you really are quite the human." He was puzzled when she got tears in her eyes at that statement. "What did I say? What's wrong?"  
  
"Oz said that I was quite the human too. Right after we found out about him being all wolfie. He tried to bite me but we stopped him and when I told him that I was kind of ok with him being in my way, he said that I was quite the human."  
  
Cole just leaned in and wrapped his arms around the little redhead. She allowed him to hug her gently for a little bit before she pulled back from him. "You know, I'm really hungry. And I don't think anyone thought about saving us dinner."  
  
"I don't know about that. I know that Piper lately tends to cook for an army. And even with Xander's appetite, I'm sure we'll be able to find something in the fridge if we look." Cole giggled. "Of course, if you want to go out to eat, we can do that. Let me just leave a note for the others so that they won't worry about us."  
  
Willow smiled and nodded. Cole got up and went into the dining room where he left a note for the others that he had taken Willow out to eat. 


End file.
